Collin County gardener shares beauty of irises

3/12

Stewart F. House/Special Contributor

The 'Dreamwalker' is only one of several types of Iris flowers blooming on at Martha's Iris Garden in Anna. As many as 250 visitors trek to her home to admire more than 775 iris varieties that bloom in virtually every color of the rainbow.

Three acres on the northern edge of Collin County inspire two of Martha McDowell’s passions: One is bearded irises, which are grown in hundreds of yards of raised beds on her rural property in Anna. The other passion is teaching and sharing, which she demonstrates by inviting the public to visit her beautiful gardens each spring when her irises bloom.

Known as Martha’s Iris Garden, her home draws as many as 250 visitors to admire more than 775 iris varieties that bloom in virtually every color of the rainbow. The longtime gardener began encouraging visitors when she could no longer stand to see her flowers going unappreciated. Her location on a lonely hilltop, part of ancestral farmland, sees little much traffic, except for vehicles rushing by on the way somewhere else.

“I saw all the beautiful plants here, but we were out in the country,” McDowell says. “So I invited a few people to come see, and word spread. More people started to come out, and they brought others.”

She also wants to teach the public about the many varieties of bearded irises available. The range of sizes, colors and shapes is almost unlimited. McDowell, 73, is a retired teacher who spent most of her career instructing math in Hunt County schools.

“I just like to share everything I know with everybody else. Like they say, once a teacher, always a teacher,” McDowell says. “But I like trying to help people and improve all our quality of life. Most people don’t understand all the wonderful types of irises there are. They just think about the plain old flag irises.”

Walk the beds with McDowell, and she can’t help but point out favorites. ‘Bride Blush,’ for instance, has pure-white falls (the iris petals that fall downward) and peachy-colored standards (the petals that grow upward).

“That’s just a beautiful color. It’s almost indefinable.”

She walked over to ‘Magic Moment’ with pinkish-lavender flowers and lacy petals. “That’s a really delicate-looking one.”

Small beginnings

The farm has been in McDowell’s family for more than 100 years. Her birthplace, a modest wooden house, still stands on the property. “The original homestead burned down, so my grandfather moved that small bungalow onto the property, and that’s where I was born,” she says.

She remembers her grandmother growing irises, but McDowell’s passion for these perennial plants began in 1989. She was given some irises by friends and planted her first bed.

She was soon buying more irises and expanding the beds. She has acquired some of her plants through the Texoma Rainbow Iris Society and purchased others from mail-order companies or directly from hybridizers.

While irises are the focal point of her landscape in spring, they aren’t the only plants McDowell tends. Around the property are a variety of fruit and pecan trees as well as roses, mock oranges, Mexican buckeyes, larkspur, bluebonnets, hollyhocks, hyacinths, daffodils, poppies, salvias, Texas sages, jujubes, vitex, crape myrtles, oxalis, amaryllis and hellebores.

She brags on a datura plant near her house that produces foot-long trumpet-shaped flowers. “Last year I counted 100 blossoms on the plant at one time,” she says.

Iris season has become a family affair. Niece Leslie Luscombe owns Luscombe Farm Specialty Foods and offers visitors box lunches to enjoy while they stroll the gardens. Her nephew Jim Luscombe and his wife, Robyn, live next door and own Foster Crossing Pecans, which also are sold at Martha’s Iris Garden.

“We just had some people come by and they said: ‘We spent all that money to go to the arboretum. We should have just come to your house,’” McDowell says.

One sight she always points out to visitors is the beautiful vista behind her house. The view features rolling green hills, oak savannas, pastures and lush wheat fields. “People say, ‘I didn’t know we had anything like this in Collin County,’” she says, referring to the hilly terrain. “I say, ‘You need to go out and see your county more.’”

While McDowell used to do all the work in the garden herself, she now hires help to do much of the hard labor. “I keep wondering how long I can do this,” she says. “My children worry about me, but I tell them I will keep my cellphone on me. If I die while I’m out there, then I’m happy. That’s the best place to be — out with my irises.”

Todd W. Davis is a Richardson gardener and freelance writer.

garden@dallasnews.com

Find Martha’s garden

Visitors are welcome to stop by McDowell’s garden in spring when her irises are in bloom. A simple sign at the side of the road on a rise reads “Martha’s Iris Garden.” The address is 1400 County Road 366. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to

Bearded irises are some of the easiest garden plants for North Texas. They’ll grow in almost any soil in the region as long as it drains well. Their rhizomes will rot if the soil stays soggy.

Plant rhizomes shallowly. They grow best when planted near the top of the soil, covered by no more than an inch.

Before you plant, incorporate organic matter into the soil to improve drainage and cultivation. McDowell uses mainly compost now, but she has used leaves and pecan shells in the past.

Raised beds are preferable, because they provide the best drainage. A bed 2 to 4 inches is plenty of depth.

Fertilize irises lightly in winter or early spring, but do not use a high-nitrogen fertilizer. This will limit flower production.

Remove the flower stalks after irises have stopped blooming to encourage growth.

Do not cut back iris foliage if it’s still green. The plants store nutrients in these leaves. In winter, remove all brown, dead foliage.

So-called reblooming bearded irises will flower in spring and fall, but not all of them will rebloom reliably in North Texas. You will have better rebloom if you keep the plants watered through summer (1 inch per week) to keep them from going dormant.

Area iris societies schedule annual sales in late summer, when it is the ideal time to dig and transplant rhizomes. Watch for notices in the Garden Calendar.

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